


Lunar Visit

by NightsMistress



Category: Young Wizards
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-12-20
Updated: 2012-12-20
Packaged: 2017-11-21 18:52:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,093
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/601001
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NightsMistress/pseuds/NightsMistress
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Just prior to starting the wizardry to correct our star, Dairine takes Roshaun to the Moon. What happened next?</p>
            </blockquote>





	Lunar Visit

**Author's Note:**

  * For [queenofinsanity6](https://archiveofourown.org/users/queenofinsanity6/gifts).



The Moon is a common place for Earthly wizards to go when they need space, both literally as well as metaphorically. No matter how large a problem is, going to the Moon helps to ground a wizard and remind them that the blue and green gem suspended in the absolute darkness of space, and all its residents (who are, of course, far too small to be seen but can be imagined) is part of the reason why they practice the Art.

That is, of course, part of why Dairine and Roshaun are there now. With a pending wizardry that could either fix Sol or cause it to go catastrophically bad, perspective is sorely needed.

“So,” Dairine said, gesturing expansively with one hand. “This is the Moon.”

Roshaun gazed out, his habitual expression of polite disdain worn thin as he took in the surroundings. “Yes, I surmised that by how it orbits your world.”

Dairine spared a moment to roll her eyes at how, despite his obvious fascination with the Lunar surface, Roshaun still strived to sound like he was entirely above it all. “You’re such a try-hard,” she snorted.

Roshaun frowned at this. “Another one of your idioms?” he asked.

“You betcha.” Dairine didn’t feel inclined to explain further.

After realizing that Dairine had no intention of clarifying, Roshaun picked up a rock and examined it thoughtfully. “We have these on my world,” he said. He held it with far more care than Dairine would normally expect anyone to hold a rock -- even a Lunar rock -- until she remembered who she was talking to. “They’re kept behind a force field in the memorial.”

 _So we remember_ , was the unspoken explanation, and Dairine frowned at not only picking up this idle thought but what it might mean for their relationship. She wasn’t sure how Roshaun’s family could possibly forget why it was that they were the kings of their world, given that their residence overlooked the slagged remains of half of their world.

“That’s ridiculous,” she said. “It sounds like your people all need a lot less remembering and a lot more _doing_.”

“When my people are roused into action against us,” Roshaun replied, very dry. “It’s not something my family enjoy.”

“You _know_ that’s not what I meant,” Dairine retorted. “You guys don’t remember things, you’re haunted by them! Everything’s about remembering this and honoring that -- it’s not about awe and reverence at all! It’s about shoving it in your face that when the time comes for you to die for your star, you better be ready for it!”

 _Great_ , she said to herself after she finished. She knew she had a terrible temper, and there was something about Roshaun that brought out the worst of it in her. _That’s sure gonna work_. Any minute now, Roshaun would come out with some kind of supercilious remark.

“Tell me about your world.”

That was not the type of remark she expected. “What?” she said after staring at him gormlessly for a minute. “It’s in the exchange material you got. Or didn’t you read it?” It was petty of her, she knew, but his having caught her out in not doing her background reading still stung. Even if it was her own fault.

“I read it. I want to know what a native wizard thinks of it.”

Roshaun was acting strange … not that Dairine really had much to go on when it came to gauging his behavior. Maybe it was entirely normal just before a major wizardry into the heart of a sun for his species to ask questions about the world he had been staying in for five days already.

Somehow, she doubted it.

“I don’t know,” she said instead. “You’ve been here for almost a week and you’re a wizard, what do _you_ think of it?”

“I don’t like it,” was Roshaun’s immediate reply. “It’s rude and abrupt and uncouth and doesn’t respect its betters at all.”

Dairine wasn’t sure if he was talking about Earth or her. Either or, he was being insulting.

“Is there anything you like?” she said instead. She was aiming for tart, or perhaps acidic, to cover the moment of insecurity. After all, they were about to try to save it, and a wizard whose feelings about the planet could be described as ‘ambivalent’ at best could potentially be a liability. She expected him to say no.

“Yes,” he said instead, surprising her.

“What? What is it?”

Roshaun smiled at this, leaving Dairine with the overwhelming urge to punch that smile right off his face. “How about I tell you on my last day of my exchange?”

“Assuming we live through today,” Dairine replied, though her heart wasn’t in it.

“Then I suppose you have an incentive to succeed.”

Now Dairine really did want to punch him. “You think what you have to say is that important?”

“Why wouldn’t it be?” That innate arrogance was pure Roshaun, and comforting after the quiet introspection of earlier. “Can you really say you hold no curiosity at all as to what a king of another planet thinks of your own?”

Unfortunately, no, she couldn’t say that. Furthermore Roshaun knew it and knew that she knew that he knew that. “Then I’ll trade,” she said. “You’ll tell me one thing you like about my world and I’ll tell _you_ one thing that I like about yours a week later.”

Roshaun gave her a perfectly incredulous look. “From the small portion that you have seen?”

Dairine snorted. “No. I’ll just have to go and visit.”

“You assume you’re invited?”

“I don’t _need_ an invitation. I’ll go where I want.”

The two stared at one another, challenging the other to back down. Ultimately, it was Roshaun. “It would be fitting to allow you to see a better world than your own as payment for hosting me.”

“You’re so full of crap,” Dairine said. It was oddly affectionate, and she wasn’t quite sure where _that_ came from. She stood up, dusting the seat of her pants off with her hands. “We should head back before Sker and Filif come up here to look for us.”

“I wouldn’t think they would waste power on something as frivolous as that,” Roshaun replied, with the clear implication that this trip was frivolous and a waste of time. Dairine wasn’t buying any of that. She grinned to herself as they teleported back home to where they were working on the first major group wizardry she had been in since she pulled star matter from the beginning of the universe.


End file.
